Golf tee

ABSTRACT

A golf tee comprising a generally conically shaped wall defining a central opening therein and formed of a synthetic plastic foam material. The upper edge of the wall is inclined radially inwardly toward the opening, providing a seating surface for a golf ball. The lower edge is provided with a plurality of downwardly extending, ground engaging projections having recesses therebetween for accommodating irregularities in the ground surface. The tee is formed by stamping out an arcuately shaped section from a flat strip of synthetic plastic foam material with the cut edges extending normal to the plane of the section. The opposite ends of the section are brought together and secured to form the generally conically shaped tee.

United States Patent Di Laura et a1.

[ GOLF TEE [72] Inventors: Arnold E. Di Laura, 414 Brisbane Building,Buffalo, N.Y. 14203;

Donald P. Pratt, 3083 Schoolview Road, Eden, N.Y. 14057 [131 Assignw a aH9531! said, we or 221 Filed: Aug. 29, 1969 [21] Appl. No.: 854,137

[ 51 Oct. 10,1972

1,738,596 12/1929 McLeod ..273/2l1 3,141,6l7 7/1964 Eyer ..273/33Primary Examiner-Richard C. Pinkham Assistant Examiner-Theatrice BrownAttorney-Christel & Bean [57] ABSTRACT A golf tee comprising a generallyconically shaped wall defining a central opening therein and formed of asynthetic plastic foam material. The upper edge of the wall is inclinedradially inwardly toward the opening, providing a seating surface for agolf ball. The lower edge is provided with a plurality of downwardlyextending, ground engaging projections having recesses therebetween foraccommodating irregularities in the ground surface. The tee is formed bystamping out an arcuately shaped section from a flat strip of syntheticplastic foam material with the cut edges extending normal to the planeof the section. The opposite ends of the section are brought togetherand secured to form the generally conieally shaped tee.

1 Claim, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEDUBI 1 I912 3.697.082

INVENTORS.

@Z QiLL km com TEE This invention relates to a golf ball support and,more particularly, to an improved golf tee construction and method ofmaking the same.

Conventional wooden golf tees having stems adapted to be pressed into aground surface leaving the heads thereof exposed to provide golf ballsupporting surfaces are not completely satisfactory because of theirlack of durability and their tendency to travel in the direction of theball after being struck by a clubhead. The ball supporting heads areeasily broken or chipped under clubhead impact thereby necessitatingdiscard of the tees. Such tees are often propelled a distance in frontof the golfer when struck by a clubhead and are easily lost.Furthermore, they are often impacted in the ground, either deliberatelyor accidentally, thereby cluttering the fairway and increasing thedifficulty of properly maintaining the golf course. In tees of thistype, the height of the ball supporting surface above the ground is avariable for each tee set-up, and the stems thereof have sharp pointsproviding safety hazards when handling the same. Also, positioning thetee in the ground can be particularly difficult where only hard, dryground is available.

A tee construction which successfully obviates the above noteddisadvantages is disclosed in pending application Ser. No. 586,114,filed Oct. 12, 1966, in the form of an extremely lightweight, virtuallyindestructible golf tee adapted to lie in an upright position on thesurface of the ground without need for pressing into the ground. Thepresent invention provides an alternative construction offering theadvantages of the construction disclosed in copending application Ser.No. 5 86,1 14 and also having additional desirable features.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention toprovide an improved golf tee, which is simple and extremely lightweightin construction, rugged and durable in use, low in cost, easily placedin teeing position on the surface of the ground, and which can beinexpensively and expeditiously formed of a synthetic plastic foammaterial.

Generally speaking, the golf tee of the present invention comprises aconically shaped body formed of a synthetic plastic foam material havingan upper edge or rim inclined radially inwardly for providing a seatingsurface for a golf ball. The lower edge is provided with a plurality ofdownwardly extending, ground engaging projections or fingers havingrecesses therebetween for accommodating irregularities in the groundsurface. The fingers terminate in edges inclined relative to ahorizontal plane so that initially only the inner ends of the edgesengage the ground surface with a point contact.

The tee is formed by stamping an arcu'ately shaped blank or section outof a strip of plastic synthetic foam material with the cut edgesextending perpendicularly to the plane of the section. The opposite endsof the section are adhesively bonded together to form the finishedproduct.

The foregoing and other objects, advantages and characterizing featuresof the present invention will become clearly apparent from the ensuingdetailed description of an illustrative embodiment thereof, takentogether with the accompanying drawing wherein like reference numeralsdenote like parts throughout the various views.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES FIG. 1 is an elevational viewof a golf tee constructed DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN ILLUSTRATIVEEMBODIMENT Referring now in detail to the drawing, there is shown inFIG. 1 one form of a golf tee constructed in accordance with the presentinvention comprising a generally conically shaped pad or body, generallydesignated 10, having a central opening 12 defined by an inclined wall14 tapering upwardly and terminating in an upper edge or rim l6 inclineddownwardly radially from the outer surface of wall 14 toward opening 12.Rim 16 is disposed at substantially a right angle relative to wall 14and forms a golf ball supporting or seating surface which is dishedinwardly for providing a relatively large contact area conforming to theengaging surface of the ball.

Body 10 preferably is formed of a synthetic plastic foam material, suchas polyurethane, polyethylene, polyvinyl or polypropylene for example,although it may be formed of any suitable, lightweight spongy material.By forming the golf tee of a synthetic foam or spongy material, which islightweight, inexpensive and resiliently yieldable, the tee of thisinvention can flex under the impact of a clubhead to provide a virtuallyindestructible tee. It also provides a cushioned impact which avoidsdamage to the face of a wood clubhead. Moreover, the material returns toits original shape after being temporarily deformed by a clubhead blowand maintains its integrity so as not to chip or crumble.

The present tee is adapted to lie directly on a ground surface with noanchorage thereto when in teeing position. To compensate for thetendency of such a lightweight tee to tilt upon engaging ground surfaceirregularities such as grass, small stones or the like, the underside ofbody 10 is formed to provide a plurality of downwardly extending, groundengaging projections or fingers 18 defining recesses 20 therebetween. Inthe illustrated form, fingers 18 are V-shaped and have a thicknessgenerally equal to wall 14. Fingers l8 terminate in knife edges 22having a length equal to the thickness of wall 14.

When body 10 is placed in teeing position, the inner portions only ofedges 22 engage the ground surface, indicated at 24 in FIG. 1 therebyeffecting a point contact rather than a line contact of edges 18. Groundsurface irregularities, including grass, will project upwardly intorecesses 20 between fingers 18 and are accommodated in a mannersubstantially obviating the tendency of such irregularities to tilt body10.

When the golf ball is placed on supporting edge or rim 16, body tends tocompress somewhat causing edges 22 to be pressed against ground surface24 progressively from the inner ends of edges 22 radially outwardlytoward the outer ends thereof to provide additional support under theweight of the ball. The dished contour of rim 16 provides an adequateseating surface for the golf ball, preventing the ball from beingdisplaced from the tee by a strong breeze or wind.

While the tee of this invention can be molded, preferably it is formedas follows. In forming the golf tee of the present invention, a strip offlat synthetic plastic foam material of the desired thickness is placedon a workbench or table and one or more arcuately shaped sections 30(FIG. 3) having a curved edge 32 and a corrugated or toothed edge 34 arestamped out from the strip of material. The corrugated edge 34 providesa series of V-shaped projections 36 which constitute the V-shapedfingers 18 of the finished product. The cutting or stamping operation issimplified by merely directing the work tool in a path of movement atright angles to the plane of the strip of material. Thus, all edges areoriented normal to the plane of the material strip.

Each strip 30 is bent through 360 to bring end portions 38 together,which end portions are then bonded together as by a suitable rubbercement or other adhesive to form a seam 40 in the finished product shownin FIGS. l-4. Although wall 14 is originally flat, the stressesresulting in bringing end portions 38 together causes wall 14 to beslightly bowed as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. It should be appreciated thatthe right angularly related edges 32 and 34 form edges 16 and 22 whichare inclined relative to a horizontal plane cut transversely throughbody 10. Thus, the complex, generally frusto-conical finished shape ofthe tee of this invention with its inclined edges 16 and 22 is easilyproduced by originally forming such edges perpendicular to the plane ofwall section 30.

From the foregoing, it is apparent that the objects of the presentinvention have been fully accomplished. As a result of this invention,an improved golf tee is provided which is easily manufactured,inexpensive, durable, and of lightweight construction. The present teerests on a ground surface and provides a dished seating surface for agolf ball. By the provision of ground engaging projections havingrecesses therebetween, ground surface irregularities are accommodated.Also, the relatively large area of the tee body which may be easilycolored by making it of a colored plastic material renders it easilyobservable to facilitate retrieval. The generally frusto-conical shapeof body 10, the radially oriented ground engaging projections and thebasically point contact thereof with the ground provides a very stableconstruction in a tee which is easily positioned for play.

One form of this invention having been described and illustrated, it isto be understood that this has been done by way of illustration only.

We claim:

1. A golf tee adapted to rest on the surface of the ground comprisingabody havingla wall defining a cenral opening therein, said wall avrng anupper edge inclined downwardly and inwardly toward said central openingforming an inwardly dished golf ball supporting seat, said body being ofa wall thickness such that the seating surface formed by said upper edgeprovides a relatively large ball contact area, said wall having a lowerportion including a plurality of downwardly extending ground engagingprojections defining a plurality of recesses therebetween foraccommodating upwardly extending ground surface irregularities, saidbody being formed of a resiliently yieldable synthetic foam material,and said wall being of a generally conical shape tapering upwardlytoward said upper edge, wherein said projections are generally V-shapedfingers terminating in generally radially extending knife edges inclinedupwardly and outwardly and of a length substantially equal to thethickness of said wall, wherein said inner ends engage said groundsurface and said lower edges are adapted to be pressed against saidground surface progressively from said inner ends toward said outer endsupon axial compression of said body, wherein said upper and lower edgesextend in a direction normal to the outer surface of said wall, andwherein said wall is of circular horizontal section and said projectionsare generally radially arranged thereabout.

1. A golf tee adapted to rest on the surface of the ground comprising abody having a wall defining a central opening therein, said wall havingan upper edge inclined downwardly and inwardly toward said centralopening forming an inwardly dished golf ball supporting seat, said bodybeing of a wall thickness such that the seating surface formed by saidupper edge provides a relatively large ball contact area, said wallhaving a lower portion including a plurality of downwardly extendingground engaging projections defining a plurality of recessestherebetween for accommodating upwardly extending ground surfaceirregularities, said body being formed of a resiliently yieldablesynthetic foam material, and said wall being of a generally conicalshape tapering upwardly toward said upper edge, wherein said projectionsare generally V-shaped fingers terminating in generally radiallyextending knife edges inclined upwardly and outwardly and of a lengthsubstantially equal to the thickness of said wall, wherein said innerends engage said ground surface and said lower edges are adapted to bepreSsed against said ground surface progressively from said inner endstoward said outer ends upon axial compression of said body, wherein saidupper and lower edges extend in a direction normal to the outer surfaceof said wall, and wherein said wall is of circular horizontal sectionand said projections are generally radially arranged thereabout.